My Adventures with Strew

In my long association and friendship with Drew Struzan, whom I called "Strew", I knew him as a humble, sensitive soul who, by the time I met him, had been beaten down by the industry and whatever confidence he once possessed during the 80's had been mercilessly kicked out of him.

Drew Struzan would never acknowledge it, but he reached true perfection in art. His absolute mastery was unassailable. He had reached a level that transcended all. Amazingly, he thought of himself as something of a failure, something inconceivable to someone like I, who, despite my endless practice and diligence, could never reach even 1/5th of his mastery, even with 5 lifetimes of attempts.

That I knew him as a friend is somewhat surreal to me. The greatest living illustrator is someone I was able to befriend and spend time with. The only problem with that situation is that I was left always wanting more. More time with him, more time to look in awe over his endless storage of masterpieces, more time to possibly watch him work, which I never really got to see. But he was always generous with his time and at one time over brunch he gave me one of the single greatest compliments I've ever received, He said he saw in me qualities similar to my idol, Captain Kirk. I'm not sure what he was quite seeing in me at that time, but imagine my surprise to receive such a compliment, one from the world's greatest living artist, my friend, "Strew"